It Rained Yesterday

Have I told you that I love the rain and when the sky is grey or when the wind blows and you get a cool breeze? This is my type of weather. Just like some people may be looking foward to summer and get sad when cold weather arrives; I like the cold. It makes me happy. I thrive in cold weather. It's the time that I get to snuggle with my warm blankets on that couch. I love doing that. This is the perfect time to cuddle with that special someone. This is the only time of year I do it. If my husband tries to cuddle with me when it's hot, especially in summer I say "Get away from me, your body is too hot." Do you think it's weird that I only do it a specific time of year?



Anyway back to what I am going to tell you. It rained yesterday afternoon and into the night. I just love the rain. It's my friend. I went out earlier that day because it looked like it was going to rain. It was all cloudy and smoky too. I think the farmers were doing a controlled burn, that or there was a fire somewhere. I just like how it looked yesterday, it was such a lovely day.

Bear With Me Everyone

Okay I know I have been neglecting my blog a bit. I have a good reason for that. I'm doing a little reflection time. I'm taking all the time I need to reflect a bit about everything really.

I'm reading a book right now and it has become very theraputic for me. It's not a self help book or anything like that. Well, it might be a little bit like it because it's inspiring me. It's an art book. The way it's created is more for beginners. Right now I consider myself a beginer because I stopped painting and drawing for about two years. Now i'm getting back into the grove of things but I feel I need to go review a few things about what I learned in the past.

I promise I'll try to do at least one post a week. If I'm a little late please don't abandon all hope and think I'm not coming back to blog land. I love blogging so I will keep coming back. I'll leave you with this picture. I took it on my way back from Washington State in August. This picture is in Oregon.

FUN FUN FUN

That's one big turkey.

Aghhh! We're going to get eaten by a giant pumpkin!
A lot of people go and paint the lovely scene of pumpkins at the farm.
There are signs posted with trivia in the corn maze so you don't get bored.
Closeup of some pumpkins.

http://www.bishopspumpkinfarm.com I had so much fun yesterday. We went on a family trip to a local pumpkin farm as a family. It was wonderful. A lot of walking and a lot to see. My daughter enjoyed herself a lot, I don't think quite as much as her parents, but she still enjoyed being out. We bought many good things such as freshly made pumpkin pie from their bakery, pumpkin butter(this is so yummy), freshly made apple cider; let me tell you IT'S FRESH, you can taste it, and last but not least two pumpkins. My husband picked out a big pumpkin and my daughter picked out a baby pumpkin just like herself.

It's good to utelize the local activities you have in your area. You don't have to go so far to have fun. In my case it was about 35-40 mins away from where I live. It's not that long a drive. We actually have 2 pumpkin farms close to our area that are approximately the same distance apart. The only difference is one is south of here(the one we went to) and the other is north of here. I've never been to that one before. The one they took us on a field trip when I was younger was the one we visited yesterday. So many things have changed from when I went as a child. The only thing I remebered about it was a slide.

The thing I liked the most was watching the pig race. The only thing I dissliked about it was that it was too short for me. It was fun watching the pigs race and jump over the obstacles. The best part my pig won the race. His name was Green Eggs n' Ham and he won he he. Lots of family fun.

AND THE WINNER IS...

The winner of this lovely key chain has been decided by a number randomizer. Drum roll please *drum roll*. The lucky winner is comment number 3 which is lulu. Please contact me at my e-mail which is in my profile. So I can know the details of where to send it ok. Oh and in the subject line write something like lulu from blogger. I often delete e-mails from unknown people and I don't want to mistakenly delete yours.

A big thank you to everyone who participated. Sorry for not giving you the results sooner. I'm only a few days late so I hope you can forgive me.

Have a wonderful day.

ACEO Set Preview

I finished the first ACEO in the set. It's called Aztec Goddess Xochiquetzal it's 1/12. It's done on watercolor paper I can't tell you what kind at the moment because I can't find my pad. I used lightfast black india ink to ink the lines. Then I used watercolor pencils to finish the painting. The watermark is not in the original. It will be signed on the back. I found something out, it's very hard to paint when you don't have the right size paint brush. I need a smaller one to make my job a lot easier.

I hate scanners, they can never capture how the painting really looks. The colors aren't as vibrant. Her skin is actually a little darker than in this picture. It still looks quite nice. I think I may become addicted to making and collecting ACEOs. Each ACEO in this set will be a little different. I am going to play with the colors and also with the mediums I use. I'm planing on using prisma colored pencils, watercolor pencils, ink, and acrylics. Maybe I'll add some embellishments as well, who knows. All I want to do is have fun.

Exploring My Backyard Part 2

A Tuna (Don't know how you say it in English)

Cactus
Tomato That's not ripe
Tomatillos
Chiles

Exploring My Backyard Part 1

The Persimmon Tree (I don't like them)

The Orange Tree
The Fig Tree
The Mandarin Tree
The Lemon Tree

Lunch: Huevos con Tortillas y Salsa Valentina

This is what I had for lunch today two eggs with tortillas and some hot sauce. Simple meal that tastes so good when you add extras like the hot sauce. I like Valentina hot sauce because their hot sauce isn't as spicy as the Tapatio hot sauce. They do have another one that's spicier but the original is just right for me. If I do eat Tapatio hot sauce I will only use a drop or two on my food and test it, if it's not spicy enough then I'll add more. It's just too spicy for me.

I must admit that when it comes to spicy things I am a big chicken. Even though supposedly because I am Mexican I'm supposed to like Spicy things. That's just one stereotype that does not apply. I don't like to eat fresh chiles. Lots of people like doing that but I don't really do that unless they're sliced and I'm going to be eating them on nachos or on a sandwich where there will be lots of other flavors to balance out the spiciness a little bit.

Art Magnets-3 in a set

I made these marble magnets. The images are things I drew myself. I am intending on selling them and they will come in a tin box. I'll think I'll sell these on etsy. I'm going to have 10 sets. I tried to get good pictures but it wasn't all that easy. Have a nice day.

Hair

I found a picture of myself when I was in high school where I still had my natural hair color. You can see that it's a dark brown color. I've been dying my hair since high school. That's a couple of years that I haven't seen my natural color.

I've been thinking for a while now that I should let my natural color grow out. I have to dye my hair one more time because I bought hair dye and I don't have the receipt to return it. I' m not going to let it go to waste. So after this one time I will not dye it anymore. For some reason I've just been wanting to go back to being natural. I think I've grown tired of dying my hair. Plus all those nasty chemicals. I think I'm better off not dying my hair. I am now embracing my natural hair color and in a way I think I am now embracing my true self. I am accepting myself as I am. I don't need to dye my hair to make a statement. I'm also thinking about growing my hair out. I used to always have my hair long up to my waist. I have it short, up to my shoulders. For me that's short. I don't know why I want to go back. Something is calling to me and telling me go back. It's pulling at me. Some inner desire, or the me trapped inside. Maybe it's my indigenous side that's finally found a way out.

Something has also been calling me saying "create, draw, paint" it's telling me to read more about my culture it's telling me to look into the indigenous arts. No matter how Americanized I am there is something inside me that keeps me grounded and keeps me connected with my people. I'm not ashamed or embarrassed to be Mexican but I think I've forgotten about myself and that other part of me. I was born here in the US that's why I'm so Americanized. Even my language is something that I've been forgetting. All I would watch on t.v. is English channels, for 2 or 3 years. Recently in the last few months I've started to watch Spanish channels and it's been helping me in some way. I'm content inside. I don't know why. It's weird you know.

It seems that some part of me is not satisfied and I need to do something to fulfill that need.

Looking Back

Looking back on my old high school photos brings such good memories. It wasn't that long ago that I was in high school but I still get nostalgic. I wonder why that is. What I have always truly loved about this photo is my hair color. It's just so vibrant and wild. I also like the way I'm staring at the ground. It looks like I'm thinking about something serious. All I could do to stop from laughing was stare at a corner. My friend and I were having too much fun laughing so I had to stare at something.

I've always been a person who was different from everyone else in the sense that I wasn't afraid to like things that I liked. I wasn't afraid to be open with things that I liked. I also most def didn't take crap from no one. No one messed with me because they knew I would defend myself. I was the quiet girl, who always did my homework and followed the rules but there was one place where I could let go and that was in the art room. I took art for 3 years in high school. I learned a lot about myself in that class. In the end art is what kept me going through high school. School wasn't tough or anything like that, it's just that at times I just didn't want to go. I wish I could have learned a lot more about art but seeing as I live in a small town and there isn't enough funding as is for the school, of course art is one of the departments they cut from first. We had limited materials, so we were limited in what we could learn. I loved my art teacher, he was great. He made due with what we had. You know a lot of people took art because they thought it was a free ride but boy were they wrong. You had to always be working in that class.

I find myself needing art again. It's like I'm discovering it for the first time again. I guess I'm one of those people that just can't be without it. *sigh*I just love art.